Monday, June 08, 2015

Remarks by President Obama and Prime Minister Al-Abadi after Bilateral Meeting

That's US President Barack Obama above with Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi today. The White House issued the following:

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

June 08, 2015

Remarks by President Obama and Prime Minister Al-Abadi after Bilateral Meeting

Schloss Elmau
Krün, Germany

2:53 P.M. CEST

THE PRESIDENT: Well, it is a pleasure to be with Prime Minister Abadi
and his delegation. Obviously, the United States has made an enormous
commitment and investment in Iraq, and we’re fortunate to have a
reliable partner in Prime Minister Abadi.

The challenges that Iraq face continue to be significant. Obviously,
ISIL, or Daesh, has been active in its terrorist activities,
particularly in Anbar and some of the western portions of the country.
We have seen successes, but we’ve also seen setbacks. In areas like
Tikrit, we’ve seen the Iraqi security forces operate very effectively
with the international coalition to drive back ISIL. Most recently, in
Ramadi, we saw ISIL concentrate its forces to get what I believe will be
a short-term tactical gain.

What we do know is that our success is going to be dependent on an
effective partnership between the international coalition and the Iraqi
government. And that’s why a lot of our discussion today will focus on
how we can build on the thousands of Iraqi security forces that we have
already trained; how we can coordinate more effectively in getting
weapons into the hands of those who are prepared to fight ISIL on a
timely basis; how we can ensure that the work that the Prime Minister
has done to maintain an inclusive government in Baghdad continues.

And in all of these discussions, what I found is that Prime Minister
Abadi is very much committed to effective, inclusive governance. And
there’s a refreshing honesty, I think, on the part of the Prime Minister
in recognizing that there remains a lot of work to be done. But as
long as the international coalition sustains its efforts, and as long as
Prime Minister Abadi and the Iraqi government stay committed to an
inclusive approach to gaining back territory from ISIL and then
instituting governance that is inclusive and serves the people, I’m
absolutely confident that we will succeed.

I just realized I should have provided the translation for that. That was kind of a long sentence. Go ahead.

So the United States is going to continue to ramp up our training and
assistance. We are going to continue to provide the supplies that are
necessary for Iraqi forces to successfully mount offensive campaigns and
not simply defensive campaigns inside of Iraq.

In discussions with the G7 and other coalition partners, they’re
absolutely committed to making sure that the Iraqi government can
succeed in this process. And I’m confident that although it is going to
take time and there will be setbacks and lessons learned, that we are
going to be successful, ISIL is going to be drive out of Iraq, and
ultimately it is going to be defeated.

PRIME MINISTER ABADI: (As interpreted.) I would like to thank
President Obama and the United States, and the G7 countries, and the
global coalition against ISIL for standing side by side with Iraq to
defeat Daesh.

We are fighting several fights and combats against ISIL. We have won
many rounds against ISIL. One round we lost was in Ramadi, but I say
that we lost it only temporarily. And the Iraqi security forces and the
Popular Mobilization Forces, all under the leadership of the
commander-in-chief and the leadership of the Iraqi government, has taken
control of the situation and are endeavoring very hard to liberate all
the land in Iraq that is confiscated. And we have liberated a space and
amount of land in Iraq that is many folds more than what they have in
Ramadi.

And very frankly, Iraqis are fighting other land and they are fighting
with the international community. And the United States, standing side
by side with Iraq -- and that is very important because the fight there
is one that is a psychological war and a moral war, and we will continue
our efforts to defeat ISIL.
Undoubtedly, we will win the war -- we will win the war over ISIS
that has a bad ideology, an ideology that is attempting at sabotaging
archeological sites and killing citizens, and targeting and killing
minorities, and causing destruction in Sunni cities. Of course, ISIS is
fully (inaudible) on anything that has to do with the Sunnis, because
ISIS ideology is a false one. And we shall be victorious.

Thank God, we are working on including all the components of the Iraqi
people and we are continuing this effort. And our sons and our
populations in Ramadi, those who fled the war scenes, come back to areas
that are under the control of the Iraqi government. We welcome them,
and we will continue to help them and do everything for them.

And as we fight Daesh in Ramadi, and we endeavor and work hard to
expulse Daesh from that region, we sent two brigades to Mosul in order
to put the area under -- the perimeter of the area under siege and to
drive Daesh out of Ninawa.

The problem resides in the foreign fighters, the influx of foreign
fighters that goes into Syria and into Iraq, and it creates more of the
bloodshed, more of the destruction, and the bloodshed and blood-spilling
of the innocents. This is what we discussed today and raised this
issue at the G7 today. And this will require the effort and the
mobilization of the international community to address.

Just to give an example and an idea -- 40 suicide bombers conduct
operations and they kill many -- and many of them are killed, but these
people are from outside and they are coming from outside Iraq.

Also, another thing is that ISIL smuggles oil and tries to generate
revenue out of oil smuggling and to generate and funnel money into its
terrorist activities. To stop this activity of ISIL, this will require
the effort of the international community. We also see that a
mobilization is needed by the international community to stop ISIL from
recruiting. ISIL recruiting must be stopped, and this can be done by a
global intelligence-sharing effort. Iraq cannot do it alone. It
doesn’t have the resources. But along with our global partners, we can
do it.

We believe that by protecting the Iraqis and our citizens, and with the
help of our allies, with the help of the global community, the
international community, and the G7, we will be able to defeat ISIL and
be victorious in Iraq.

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